Sumo Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar

Sumo’s has always been a top contender when it comes to any type of celebratory reason, or just for the heck of it. We usually come if it’s someone’s birthday or if someone is visiting from out of town. This particular night, we came because it’s my sister-in-law’s and niece’s last weekend here before they head back to Louisiana. =(If you come for your birthday, they make a big deal out of it and it’s quite fun! They give you a lei, a pineapple boat, and sing you Happy Birthday in Japanese, drum included. Free? No, it’s for a small fee but they take your picture (or used to anyway — can’t remember if they still do).
The one thing I hate, and I mostly understand but still hate, is that most hibachi places only seat your party if everyone is present. Our party was only 4 adults and 1 toddler but we had to wait for 2 people. It wasn’t even packed and come to find out, once we got seated, we still had to wait a good while before our table got full. But I digress… It’s never deterred me from returning time and time again.
I forgot the name of our chef (I wanna say Henry) but he’s been there forever. He’s usually funny and engaging but tonight, he just did his thang and called it a night. Didn’t even play the «Toss the shrimp in your mouth» game. Maybe he was tired? Maybe they don’t do that anymore? I dunno. Maybe they were short-​staffed and needed to move along? Who knows!
I ordered the hibachi special — $ 30, includes fried rice, steak (not even sure if filet Mignon or not), chicken, and shrimp. He cooked my steak as requested (medium rare) and gave me the extra veggies (ooh lucky me, I just loooooove onions! Hahaha!). He forgot to turn on the exhaust and Bruce had to come remind him. It got quite smoky in our area! Lol! For appetizer, the boyfriend and I shared a simple Cali roll and the
Kani Su which is Crab, avocado, shrimp rolled in cucumber on SUMO’s own rice vinaigrette sauce. That was delicious and very refreshing. Highly recommend!
Waitress was nice. The establishment does show obvious wear and tear but otherwise I think it’s pretty clean. I didn’t visit the women’s bathroom but my boyfriend noted that the men’s bathroom had a rusty, nasty looking handicap rail. Parking is always abundant and clean.
Can’t wait to go back — anyone’s birthday coming up that I can crash? I’ll pay for my own meal, I promise!

The table chef was entertaining but the service was slow and poor. Had reservations waited to be seated and then no one came to serve us even water and took forever to get the check. Will think twice before I go there again.

After living in Okinawa for 4.5 years, this place was a huge let down. The clear soup was not good, the chef did not add any seasoning to the food, no salt, no pepper, not even garlic. Food was so bland for the price. Will not be going back to this place ever again.

For a sushi bar– there have a very limited sushi menu. We were very disappointed and ended up changing our Valentine’s Day plans.

I usually only have hibachi when it’s someone’s birthday, my husband even refers to it as the Chuck E. Cheese for adult birthdays. That’s how we found ourselves enjoying Sumo for the first time.
They handled our party of 14 perfectly with friendly service & yummy food. My husband & I split an order of the hibachi chicken and an order of the hibachi steak. Both were cooked perfectly & tender. The fried rice is so good. All meals are served with soup & a salad, which were both decent.
It’s a great place for larger groups!

Great value and food! I def recommend the lunch menu, sumo combi (steak, shrimp and chicken) 14.95 $. I’ll be back here for sure.

Came here on a Sunday for dinner for the first time, Hibachi rooms were very well located just enough to be able to watch tv from the room (Playoff footbal)
The service was very prompt and the drinks and starters came within 5 minutes, the chef was also attentive and show good skill on the grill which made for a very entertaining evening and meal.
On the menu: Surf & Turf w/​california rolls

Went for lunch with a few colleagues, and ordered the Steak and Chicken dish. I’ve been to plenty of Teppanyaki like places, this place is in my top 5. The staff is always kind.
Luckily when we got there, we were the only people there so our cook took swift action to chop, cook and serve our food just in time. Everything tasted pretty good. I didn’t care for the clear soup they gave you, something about it tasted weird. The Steak and Chicken were cooked just right, and so were the vegetables to match. Unfortunately, because of my NYE resolution, it’s not really in it for me to eat hibachi, so I brought it home… to eat later :)

My husband and I recently went to Sumo and ate at the sushi bar for my birthday. I was craving their quail egg (something that tends to be hard to find); it is still the best quail egg I’ve ever had served raw, over salmon egg (ikura) and a little rice, wrapped in nori (seaweed). My husband accompanied the meal with hot green tea, and I enjoyed a small hot sake… both lovely and cozy.
We ordered in rounds, starting with the quail eggs and a couple rolls… then later ordering some individual pieces of sushi and another couple rolls (my husband can really put away some sushi!) The eel roll was delicious… everything else was good. not amazing, but not bad. The sushi chef did forget the individual sushi we had ordered in the second round… when we kindly reminded him, he made up for it with an extra piece of each order (each normally comes with two pieces, he made three) and then later even added some salmon and octopus sashimi.
When my husband got the check, there was a mistake on the check (a roll was mixed up with a sushi meal on the menu) but they also quickly corrected it and we were good to go.
I would return for the quail egg and to try their hibachi… I’m not sure I would go often for the sushi though. It is good, but I’ve had better. Despite errors, the service was overall great and attentive.

Tried their hibachi, the fried rice wasn’t even cooked the shrimp they used were not fresh and I guess they ran out of their regular shrimp, So the shrimp they’ve used was the smallest shrimp I’ve ever had!

The sushi was okay. I had the oishi roll. It was edible. I also had the Virginia Beach roll. The roll stated it had tuna in it on the menu. Well it has a huge piece of tuna that runs through it. It was the size of a carrot. Then with the roll sliced they were huge pieces of sushi to eat. With such huge pieces of tuna in it, the flavor wasn’t really balanced. You feel like your just chewing a huge chunk of raw tuna. I didn’t even finished it.

While the service was decent and the food was good and plentiful I was astonished at how they nickel and dime you for every little thing. I paid $ 32 for hibachi and was still charges $ 1.50 for choosing FRIED rice over white. Want more dressing $ 1. Being a 3 year old and get charged $ 5 for a dish of fried rice. Dinner for a family of 4 was over $ 120 for 3 dinners, 1 roll, and 3 drinks. OUCH.
The restaurant itself was old and everything was sticky. Everything! Even the carpet as you walked to the restroom.
I ordered my rainbow roll (which was good — and most importantly fresh) prior to placing our meal order and it still didn’t come out until ½ way through the hibachi portion.
We won’t be heading back to Sumo. I’m honestly surprised at the 4 star rating.

It surprises me that this is one of the highest rated hibachi restaurants in the VB area.
We were seated at our table promptly, then no one came to take our drink order for 10 – 15 minutes. Then we waited another 10 minutes before our food order was taken. Then of course we waited more before the chef finally came to cook.
The food was mostly fine. Nothing at all special. The soup was quite bland; it needed at least some more salt. They don’t offer any ribeye which I found quite sad, so I ordered the filet instead. It was definitely over cooked, but, mercifully, wasn’t terribly tough.
The most terribly disappointing part was that they have no garlic. None in the restaurant. At all. How do you cook food without garlic? There is nothing tastier than a good garlic fried rice or perfectly cooked steak glazed with garlic butter.
Please tell me there are better options around here that just aren’t getting the love they deserve?

Food was typical hibachi style food. Done very well. The chefs seemed a little more skilled than what I have Sen at other hibachi places in the area. I also really liked the set up of separate hibachi rooms instead of the open one giant room layout of other hibachi places in the area. Sushi was very good. Try the spider roll. Also I really liked the samurai cocktail with rum, orange juice and pineapple juice, coconut water and almond milk. Plus for only two dollars more you get the souvenir cup which I thought was pretty cool. Great service. My water glass never reached even half empty and the chef was just super nice and accommodating. Definitely would return and recommend this restaurant.
Note: address on Unilocal seems inaccurate. If you’re on Independence Blvd heading towards town center and away from the 264 on ramps, Sumo is in the strip mall on the right, make the right turn before the car dealership and Dick’s Sporting Goods. The pin says Sumo is located where Dick’s Sporting Goods would be and that’s just incorrect.

We went with our family for a party of 12 and were crammed into 2 tables. i get we are a big party our 4 of us were separated from the rest of the group and it wasnt really much of a family dinner.
Also the floor is SUPER STICKY. I mean my shoes were stuck to the ground! Gross. Over all the food was typical for this style.

While Sumo and I are, without a doubt, in a very committed relationship with each other and it’s my go-​to spot for hibachi –we, like any couple, have some issues. Sumo is a real staple in Virginia Beach and my family has been eating here for so long that there is, legitimately a ’90’s polaroid of all of us on their bulletin board. Alas, I find myself eating here for a few reasons:
(1) Other people go ape sh*t for Sumo, especially fellow Jewfolk. Seriously, I can count the amount of VB locals that I know on less than 1 hand that frequent any other hibachi place.
(2) The fried rice here is IMO some of the best fried rice at any hibachi restaurant in VB.
(3) I’ve been steadily eating here for like fifteen years –so yeah, I eat here out of obligation and lots of Jewish guilt.
Hibachi is pretty self explanatory, if you’ve been to one … Well, then you’ve perfected the concept. There are only two things that you can do to ruin hibachi for me: rush cooking my food (and act like you’re rushing it, especially when it’s slow and it’s just me and an eating partner; why the rush?) and, if you’re slow, wait 30 – 40 minutes to take my order because you’re trying to fill a table.
Let me say, I get it. I have a deep understanding of maximizing costs/​labor/​etc. But, in this scenario, it causes a service break on the end of the customer. Especially, if I wait 40 minutes to give my order and I’m still left being the only lonesome soul at the table.
While the food at Sumo rocks and, on busier nights, it can totally be worth the wait because they put on GREAT shows when it’s busy; there are a lot of service issues that I have with Sumo about half of my visits.
P. S. I never, generally, order a sushi roll from a hibachi place (unless I get a strange hankering for a Spider Roll), because I’m more of a sashimi girl; however, my boyfriend says that the shrimp tempura roll is somewhat forgettable.

I’ve been here 3 or four times with a big/​reasonable sized party. They accommodate well in my opinion.
I don’t ever get hibachi when I frequent places like these because I don’t ever eat it all so I get sushi instead. I’ve recently been started eating eel so I ordered the eel roll as well as the Mt Trashmore roll. The eel roll was tender. So good! The Mt trashmore roll was good also. I can’t remember for the life of me what fish was on top but that was good whatever it was.
I wish I had a picture. But if you’re a sushi fan and aren’t afraid of raw… try both these out.

I have been coming to Sumo’s for at least 15 years. It has been approximately 3 years since my last visit. The flavors have remained consistent & has been my favorite! I brought my daughter and son for their birthday and we all (party of 11) had a blast!!!
Their food is not greasy and the seasonings always a good balance. I love the cabbage and the fried rice. While they don’t have yum yum sauce that everyone requests, the sauces they do serve are deeeelicious! We also ordered sushi. The party really liked the cucumber roll with crab, shrimp, & avocado (no rice).
The establishment is very clean which I appreciate. I’ve been to others and have seen thick layers of dirt in the vents. Not here.
Service is great! Our waitress was patient and took the time to ensure she had the correct orders!
I came here specifically because I recall enjoying their birthday celebration and thought my kids would enjoy. And… they did. $ 5 I believe for a pineapple, candle and singing 2 renditions of happy birthday.
My 11yr old daughter used to be terrified of Japanese Hibatchi steakhouses… She’s now saying how much she LOVES Sumo’s.

Five stars for Hibachi,
two stars for sushi,
So I averaged it out to about three stars.
The first time I came here years ago, I LOVED the Hibachi! Recently we came for a birthday celebration and I was in the mood for sushi. Disappointed, I definitely should have ordered Hibachi instead, and we (everyone in our party) totally felt rushed.
Also, they add $ 5 to your bill if you request them to sing «Happy Birthday» with a gong & give the celebrant some pineapple for dessert. I’ve never heard of any place doing that! I mean, they DO warn you, but who does that?!
Lesson here — get Hibachi, not sushi. And don’t come here for a birthday unless you want to pay an extra $ 5 for the song & gong.

So this was some pretty awful sushi in my honest opinion. But apparently they’re popular for hibachi. Lesson learned. The hibachi was alright. The portions were so large you can split with a friend. My fried rice wasn’t cooked thoroughly. And I knew that was going to happen. He cooked in haste. The scallops were overcooked, but tasty. And overall, dinner was enjoyable, just majorly mediocre.